It seems like at the start of the new year, there is so much information out there about how to improve yourself. The magazine covers are filled with diet ideas. Articles abound on the internet about de-cluttering your house and what your reading lists should be for the new year. Everyone is capitalizing on the “fresh new start” and the impetus for change. One article I read talked about words that many of us commonly mispronounce and how to pronounce them correctly. I’ll give you some of the words on the list, but I’m not going to tell you how to pronounce them. Come on! You already know how to pronounce these words correctly, right?!? Some of this list is as follows:
Chipotle, cache, gyro, ennui, espresso, prescription, candidate, sherbet, Sudoku, niche, cavalry, bruschetta, Celtic, prerogative, liable, chicanery, hummus, caramel, wheelbarrow, asterisk, raspberry
I felt like I did pretty well with most of the pronunciations, although some of them did surprise me. Certain words, I constantly stumble on their pronunciation, even when I have looked them up and practiced dozens of times. I avoid trying to say certain words or I try to say them really quickly, so whomever I am talking to, gets the “gist” of what I am saying and hopefully doesn’t catch that I’m still unclear on the pronunciation of the word.
I love it when you find a word that is just fun to say and you look for an excuse to say it. My husband and I were at this beautiful farm market and they were selling mostly prize winning cheeses. What really attracted us, though, were their jars of escabeche. My husband thought the escabeche would taste wonderful and that it would make a great garnish on our sandwiches and salads. I just thought it looked lovely and colorful and I love saying the name. I love saying escabeche. It’s just really fun to say. Escabeche. Escabeche. See, fun to say!
When my daughter was little, she had three “talky” older brothers who constantly talked over her and for her. I think that she still has to deal with that annoyance, when we are all together. It took her a while to get her grammar points down, because frankly, she didn’t have to do it. She had three loud mouths to make the point that she wanted another cookie, was not excited about having a babysitter, or had to go to the bathroom again. When she didn’t hear what someone had to say, she would ask, “What you said?” It drove me crazy, trying to correct that particular grammar mistake she was making, until I finally decided to just roll with it and even used it as my email password. Like all things we parents lose sleep over, her grammar mistake passed and quickly, especially when I decided to just let it go.
What are words that “trip you up”? What are words that just roll off of your tongue in the most delightful way? I think that is the great fun of the new year, contemplating all of the ordinary stuff with a fresh, interested point of view.